Chicken Leftovers Casserole with Herby Dumplings

When Sainsbury’s challenged me to come up with a recipe using leftovers, I knew straight away one that I would chose. Me, Derm & Tara love this dish – M & V pretend they hate it by taking it for a walk around their plate/bowl – which surely suggests its gorgeous, right?

I love that the quantities really depend on what meat and veg you have got leftover – Most veg can be bunged in. I used 2 red peppers and a handful of green beans that were just turning bendy in the dish pictured but carrots, leeks, cabbage, even butter beans would work well.

Either turkey or chicken can be used – I had some chicken breasts that I wanted to use. We are having to shop differently at the moment – I’m having to get used to 3 children & 2 adults eating more than I’m used to. I don’t quite want to get onto massive pack sizes but I’m finding standard supermarket pack sizes not quite big enough. I used 4 breasts which actually worked out plenty for us 5.

I was even more thrifty by using some thyme that I bought fresh for 3p just after Christmas – I’ve been drying it out on the kitchen windowsill, tied up with pretty ribbon so it didn’t look like I just haven’t tidied up!

I cooked the chicken breasts first in the oven while I was getting all the other ingredients ready but what would be even better would be to use up the leftover pieces of your cooked chicken/turkey after a Sunday roast. This would really cut down on time – I find this way, I know that the chicken is well cooked and that it speeds up time if your kids decide that they will pass out with starvation if you don’t feed them straightaway and won’t let them have a biscuit while they wait.

I used the instruction from the Atora packet to make my Herby Dumplings – You can do these in advance so they are ready to just plonk in when the casserole is cooking:

Mix all the dry ingredients (listed below) in a medium bowl and any dried herbs that you fancy (we used up the last of the thyme) and add the water a little at a time until you have a wet dough.

Cover your hands with flour and roll in to approx 8 dumplings (we get slightly more out of a standard mixture as the kids only like small dumplings).

Disclosure: I was sent a Sainsbury’s voucher to cover the costs of any products I had to buy to make this recipe. I was given free reign which recipe I came up with. For more ideas of how to use up your leftovers visit Sainsbury’s Inspiration – 8 Ideas for your leftovers

This looks absolutely gorgeous and fairly simple which is perfect for me! I’m the opposite and am trying to get used to cooking for 1 rather than 2… it’s harder than it sounds but I think this recipe is quite adaptable x